Many
Muslims believe that Miraj of Muhammad (PBUH) was a physical journey. In
contrary, Allah has said that Miraj was a vision or ru'ya (Surah Bani-Israil
Ayat 60). Our dear Prophet experienced this extraordinary vision when
contemporary people were relentlessly humiliating him. Even after years of his
dedicated mission, only few people had accepted the Truth. In such
circumstances, it is natural that anybody would be disheartened and be in a low
morale. During such a period of preaching, Allah (SWT) granted our Prophet a
vision that he is leading a salat where all the past prophets were
attending. This vision signifies that our dear Rasul would be the imam of the
whole world as all the previous prophets acknowledged his highest level of
dignity and status. Thus, it can be concluded that his preaching would soon
prevail all over the world. In this spiritual journey, he traveled beyond the
world and observed a view of the universe. Many people of his time assumed this
to be a physical journey. To correct them, our prophet said that he was in the
stage of half-sleep and half-awake. When he woke up (or completed the journey),
he found his seat to be warm. This attests that the journey consumed a brief
moment. All the incidents that happened in this short period can only occur
spiritually or in ru'ya.

The
disbelievers thought that our rasul implied a physical journey and they
ridiculed our prophet and demanded a book to be brought down from the heaven
(Bani-Israil, Ayat 93). Our rasul replied: “but I am just a human being”
(Ayat 93). This Ayat confirms that he does not possess power of a superman or is
not provided with a 'burraq' to travel physically to heaven and bring a book!
Unfortunately,these days we Muslimsstarted to believe that the
journey was physical.

Some Questions:

Usually,
the incidence of Miraj is described vividly. In spite of that, many loopholes in
the description remain. Usually, Muslims do not cast suspicion on such
contradictions in the description. If you believe that this journey was indeed a
physical journey, then you have to come up with some reasonable answers to the
following questions. These questions are

1.
Why did Angel Gabriel enter the house by breaking through the roof? Was the
landing imperfect? Who repaired the breakage before others could see the defect?
Another version says angels Gabriel,
Mika'il and Israfil came together and they did not pierce the roof. Why is the
discrepancy in the story?

2.
It is
told that Burraq would not allow our
prophet to ride him, till Gabriel scolded it. Did Allah(swt) send a special
animal that would not do its duty till scolded.

Another version says that this animal was
way too eager to carry our Prophet while it was in its own heaven. Why is the
discrepancy in the story?

3.
How did all other prophets come to Jerusalem? Did they come in spiritual form or
in physical form? If they came in physical form, then resurrection or Qiyamat
had once taken place already. Because the dead prophets were brought back to
life already in to their earthly bodies.

4.
If the previous prophets came in physical form, what kind of transportation did
they acquire? More Burraqs? Or only few large burraqs like jumbo jets? Remember
that we are talking about 124,000 prophets.

5.
We are told that Prophet's Burraq was tied to one corner of Masjidul Aqsa. Where
did all other prophets tie their individual burraqs or their jumbo burraqs?

6.
A gathering of such huge magnitude is sure to cause much commotion in the area.
Did the people of Jerusalem miss such a major gathering? Not even a single
person noticed 124,000 prophets and 124,000 burraqs suddenly entering their
small town of Jerusalem?

7.
How big was the Aqsa Mosque at that time? Could it really hold 124,000 prophets?
Football stadiums in this country can barely hold such large number of
spectators.

8.
If you say that, all the prophets came spiritually and none of them came
physically, then why did our prophet Muhammad(PBUH) make a physical journey? He
could also have reached there spiritually.

9.
When the incident of Miraj happened, what our prophet needed was a morale boost
at the humiliating situation around him. He did not really need any physical
boost. If at all Allah sent all the prophets in their physical bodies, then it
would have been more helpful to send them to Makkah. These 124,000 prophets, of
different races and nationality, could have camped in Makkah for a day or two,
and scared the hell out of the disbelievers.

10.
Which prayer was that? Isha? Or some other time? Was there an Adhan? Or Ikamat?
Who gave the Adhan or Ikamat that all the prophets could hear yet none of the
residents of Jerusalem could hear?

11.
As we are told, our prophet then went to the heaven and several prominent
prophets greeted him. We know that those prominent prophets also were in the
congregational prayer at Jerusalem. How did they reach heaven before Muhammad
(PBUH)? Another kind of transportation that is quicker than a Burraq? So you
mean that Allah provided a slow Burraq to Muhammad (PBUH)?

12.
Why did the gatekeepers enquire the identity of Gabriel and Muhammad(PBUH)? The
angel gatekeepers did not recognize a major angel, the Gabriel? If the
gatekeepers are so stupid or ill-informed, then they may not do a good job in
protecting the heaven.

13.
Allah(swt) had sent his special angel Gabriel and a special animal Burraq, to
bring our prophet to the heaven. In such a special occasion, did Allah(swt)
forget to instruct the gatekeepers about the very special guest? In this world,
we usually send some body to the airport to pick the special guest up. Of course
Miraj does not happen every day. Out of so many prophets, only our rasul
experienced this miraj. In such a major event, the gatekeepers repeatedly
insulted Gabriel and our prophet by asking their identity. Also, Allah(swt)
probably did not install security systems where you could swipe your magnetic
cards to enter, or let a scanner scan your finger prints, or a voice activated
system that would recognize our prophet's voice.

14.
What is the need of a gate in front of the heaven, any way? Who tries to
trespass that such security is needed? Was it not possible for the Burraq to fly
little higher and cross the wall without any interruption at the gates?
Helicopters can do that.

15.
Why did Gabriel stop at each gate? I thought his style is to pierce through the
roof. Probably, the roof of heaven is made of a different grade of concrete that
Gabriel would have hurt himself.

16.
Allah(swt) has said that he resides close to our jugular vein. But this
description says that Allah(swt) resides in the seventh heaven, behind a
curtain. Does it not hit the fundamental understanding of Islam that Allah(swt)
is omnipresent and without a physical body?

17.
Allah(swt) said that " And know that Allah cometh in between a man and his
heart" (8:24), and also " for we are nearer to him than (his) jugular
vein (50:16)". If we subscribe to the story that Allah(swt) is stationed
behind the curtain in the seventh heaven, then these two ayats are in serious
question. Please also read ayats 2:115, 6:3. What do you want to believe?
Allah's(swt) words in Quran or this story??

18.
Another form of this story says that beyond this curtain was an exceptionally
bright light. What kind of light was that? Electromagnetic radiation? The
curtain a special grade of lead with high atomic number that could restrict the
light or energy of Allah? Can some thing restrict Allah(swt)? Is Allah(swt)
confined to one area?

19.
Why does Allah(swt) need so much of security? Is He not the most powerful? Is
there a threat of a military coup from Iblees that Allah(swt) needs the
security? Security guards of our presidents are usually physically stronger,
swifter, and able than the presidents. So, Allah's 'body' guards are physically
stronger than Allah(swt) that they could protect Allah(swt) in case of any
assault?

20.
Burraq is a winged animal little smaller than a horse. It flaps its special wing
to cross long distances at a fast pace. Once it crossed the atmosphere, it
really did not require the wings, as there is no air to flap his wings. At that
time, did he transfer his rider to another kind of animal? Or probably he
manages equally well without flapping the wings. I presume he carefully covered
our prophet with his wings at that time, because it is terribly cold up in the
atmosphere. He might also have saved extra air or oxygen inside his wings for
our prophet's survival. Probably there was no need for extra air, as it happened
too fast, before our prophet needed another breath of air.

21.
We are repeatedly told that during our prophet's visit to the heaven, he was
prescribed with 50 prayers a day and six months of sawm for his followers. Let's
just think what fifty prayers a day will do to us. Out of 24 hours a day, we
probably sleep 6-7 hours. That leaves us with 17-18 hours. We spend about two
hours in eating, bathing, and other biological needs. That leaves us with about
15 -16 hours. If we have to pray fifty times in this time, then we have to pray
about four times an hour. Well, then there is not much time left for other
things to do. We do not have enough time to go to grocery. Well, we do not need
to go, because every one in the grocery store is also praying fifty times a day.
Actually, the grocery store is empty. Because, the farmers did not grow any
crops this year as they were praying fifty times a day. Well, we do not need
grocery that much, since we are also fasting six months!!

22.
Who saved us from this difficult task of 50 prayers and six month of fasting?
Musa (AS)? So, Musa (AS) was instigating our prophet against the initial
commands of Allah(swt)? So, we believe that our prophet listened to the
"advices" of Musa instead of "orders" from Allah(swt)? While Al-Quran says in
10:15, "if I were to disobey my Lord, I should myself fear the chastisement
of a great day (to come)."

23.
Our prophet had to make several trips to Allah to get all the reductions and
discounts on prayers and fasting. When Musa(AS) "instigated" our prophet, did it
take so long for Muhammad(PBUH) to realise the burden of so many prayers and
such long fasting? Was our prophet so retarded? (May Allah forgive me).

24.
At the following website
http://www.islam.org/mosque/isra/Israa_Miraj_Hadith.shtml we find this
description:
"Then Moses stopped him when the prayers had been reduced to five and said,
"O Muhammad! By Allah, I tried to persuade my nation, Bani Israel to do less
than this, but they could not do it and gave it up. However, your followers
areweaker in body, heart, sight and hearing, (bolds are mine) so
return to your Lord so that He may lighten your burden."

How true,
Muslims are weaker in body, heart, sight, hearing than the Bani Israel ! Any
idea who fabricated this story? You dont get an extra point if you answer it
correctly. Followers of Moses are only one race of people. While a Muslim could
be African, Asian, Mongoloid, Caucasian or any other race. If we believe the
story as written in the above website, then Bani Israel is better than rest of
the humanity!

25.
Allah(swt) says that He is Rahman and Rahim. But I see that He wanted us to go
through 50 prayers and 6 months of fasting. Not very Rahim, huh?

26.
Only Musa (AS) had the real perception of the hardship of mankind. Neither
Allah(swt) nor Muhammad (PBUH) had any clue! But again, Allah insists in
Al-Quran 2:185, "…Allah intends every facility for you, He does not want to
put you to difficulties…".

27.
I thought heaven was very secure with all these gatekeepers. Did the security
guards allow Musa(AS) to loiter around? Why did the gatekeepers allow
Muhammad(PBUH) multiple revisits to Allah(swt)? Where was Gabriel at that time?

28.
These days, many of us celebrate the incident of Isra and Miraj. Did our prophet
celebrate this incident? Did his companions celebrate this incident? No?

Other web sites

If you
insist on celebrating Isra and Miraj, then please read what
Shaykh `Abdul `Aziz ibn Baz has to say. He
wrote, “If the celebration of this night had been lawful, they (companions)
would have been first to do it. The Prophet also is the most sincere in guiding
people. He most truly fulfilled his mission, and performed his noble duty. If
the glorification and celebration of that night had something to do with Islam,
the Prophet would never have neglected it nor concealed it. Since nothing about
this was narrated from the Messenger and his companions, therefore glorification
and celebration of that night was absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with
Islam, as Allah has perfected for this nation its religion, completed His favor
upon it and rebuked and refuted the innovators who introduce into the religion
that which Allah has not allowed”.

I would
strongly suggest you to visit an web site
Mairaj or the Ascesion. If my style of
writing irritated you, you will find more polite way of writing in this web site
as well as the one mentioned in the above paragraph.

There are
multiple web sites that describes in detail of Isra and Miraj, as if it happened
physically. I am not providing links to those sites. If you are intersted to
read those sites, you can to go any search engine and enter Miraj. One
site will even describe you about the
heaven of burraqs where there are 40 million burraqs, each with a "La-ilaha
illallahu muhammadur rasulallah" inscribed on its forehead! I do not want to
speculate who did the census to conclude 40 million burraqs or who would read
the Kalimah written on their forehead.

Conclusion

If you
think that this incident of Miraj occurred in vision or in dream, and the
journey was spiritual in nature, then you will find very logical answers to all
the questions that I posed. If you think the journey was indeed physical, then
let me know what are the answers based on Quran. Do not just say that Allah
(swt) is most powerful and He can do any thing. Yes, I agree that Allah (swt) is
most powerful and He can indeed do anything, but you will agree that He does not
do stupid things.

May
Allah(swt) bless all the readers without limit in their effort in serving the
cause of Islam. Also, may Allah(swt) forgive me for my mistakes, ignorance and
wrong attitude and guide me in the right path.

For any
questions or suggestions, please contact Abu Abdus-Samad at abusamad@hotmail.comThis page was visited times since December 22, 1999.